TC Even though some of the participants could not speak, thei smiles said a lot.The Carroll County Education Center for children with disabilities had its annual spring program yesterday in the activities room of the Westminster school.This year's theme was "Growing Up Great," and the prekindergarten through intermediate classes performed skits about professions."We have specific units we do, and we rotate," said Robin Shamer, a music teacher who organized the program. "Whatever is the last unit is the theme for the program."

Debora Coates-Consugar has a penchant for making math simple and enjoyable for students at Summit School, an Edgewater-based, not-for-profit education center for children with dyslexia and other learning problems. But sometimes the math department chair will encounter a struggling student who tells the teacher she can't possibly understand how frustrating certain subjects can be. Truth is, Coates-Consugar knows it all too well. "I'm dyslexic, too," says Coates-Consugar, fighting back emotions as she reflected upon once having endured the same struggles she now helps her students overcome.

By Nancy Knisley and Nancy Knisley,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | April 20, 2003

An unusual program at Howard Community College is helping students with learning or physical disabilities move successfully from high school to college -- and then stay in college once they make the transition. Begun in 1997 by Linda Schnapp, now assistant director of the program, Project Access reaches out to students who, despite their strengths, may not have been seen as "college material" by high school teachers and counselors who directed them more toward employment after graduation.

In the hospital supply room, Ricardo Thomas checks his list against the boxes he has put on a cart to take to an operating area, making sure he has it right. "You look at the stock number and you will know — so you don't get mixed up," Thomas says, pointing to the number on the form and then the number on the carton. "Right there is the stock number. " He double-checks to make sure the form and carton list the same materials. "I sign out the orders, and I take them where they have to go," Thomas says.

Kimberly Diconza, a political science major at the Johns Hopkins University, says she is dyslexic and has an auditory processing problem and attention deficit disorder. She also has a 3.4 grade point average. "I think for someone with a learning disability, that is pretty remarkable," she says. It might be remarkable, but it is no longer unusual. As more students like Diconza have moved through special education programs in elementary and secondary schools, they have become a growing presence on college campuses during the past decade.

The seemingly endless court supervision of the Baltimore City Public Schools' special education programs may finally be moving closer to a successful end. Last week, a special master overseeing a decades-old federal lawsuit on behalf of students with disabilities reported that city elementary schools have made substantial progress toward meeting goals set out in a 2000 agreement to improve special ed programs. The report suggested that the city's elementary schools were nearly in compliance with most of the benchmarks established to measure progress.

By Nancy Knisley and Nancy Knisley,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | November 30, 2003

A year-old program at the Community College of Baltimore County's Dundalk campus is helping to address two chronic needs: career opportunities for adults with disabilities and quality child care. The Single Step Childcare Program, which began in August last year, prepares adults with disabilities to work as child care providers. The program is designed "for adults who are capable of working successfully with young children but who need to prepare in a setting with their special learning style in mind," said Melanie Hood-Wilson, program coordinator.

Three public schools run by a controversial private Minnesota company did not follow federal procedures for special education students and must file a corrective plan by Aug. 1, the state Department of Education announced yesterday.Investigators found: Some students with disabilities were being included in mainstream classes without sufficient parental notice or consent; individualized programs for students with disabilities who are included in mainstream classes were not adequately implemented; evaluations of disabled students were not always completed in the required time period; and insufficient evidence of teacher participation in student placement decisions.

Howard Community College will hold an information session for parents and students on its Project Access program. The session will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in the Galleria of the Science and Technology Building, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. The program is designed to help high school students with disabilities make a transition to post-secondary education and increase their success rate. Instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills and college survival skills is offered.

The county's special education supervisor says he's proud that the Carroll public school system is able to develop and maintain programs for children from birth to age 21."In my opinion, special education programs in Carroll County are [among] the best in the state and on the East Coast," Dr. Harry Fogle, the supervisor, told members of the Carroll County Children's Council yesterday.There are approximately 23,000 students who presently attend Carroll County schools, including 2,815 students with disabilities, Dr. Fogle said.

These tables show the percentage of middle school students who scored at advanced or proficient levels on reading and math tests as part of the Maryland School Assessment. The official scores are online at the Maryland Report Card Web site ( www.mdreportcard.org). Scores published here may differ from some reported online because The Sun analysis includes results from students with disabilities, while the state tabulates those separately. Also, scores reported here from past years may differ slightly from scores reported online because of interim corrections.

By Sara Neufeld and Sara Neufeld,sara.neufeld@baltsun.com | May 12, 2009

A state audit has found significant improvement in the Baltimore school system's delivery of services such as speech therapy and counseling to students with disabilities. State auditors examined the files of 358 special-education students who were entitled to 678 sessions of services between August and December. Twenty-five of the 358 students had a problem with service delivery, a noncompliance rate of 7 percent, down from 30 percent when a similar audit was done a year ago. But the consent decree in a decades-old lawsuit involving the city's special-education program requires that no more than 2 percent of students with disabilities have their services interrupted over the course of a school year.

The seemingly endless court supervision of the Baltimore City Public Schools' special education programs may finally be moving closer to a successful end. Last week, a special master overseeing a decades-old federal lawsuit on behalf of students with disabilities reported that city elementary schools have made substantial progress toward meeting goals set out in a 2000 agreement to improve special ed programs. The report suggested that the city's elementary schools were nearly in compliance with most of the benchmarks established to measure progress.

By Sara Neufeld and Sara Neufeld,sara.neufeld@baltsun.com | March 7, 2009

Praising reforms initiated by Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso, a special master overseeing a 25-year-old special-education lawsuit is recommending less judicial oversight at most of the city's elementary schools. Alonso publicly committed yesterday to ending the wide-ranging case that costs the school system millions of dollars a year by 2011, when his contract as CEO is up for renewal. But much work lies ahead to improve services to special-education students in the system's middle and high schools.

Eating meat causes systematic suffering It's that time of year again: The time when we read about the 4-H kids at the state fair who experience sadness and grief when the animals they've lovingly raised are taken away to go to the slaughterhouse ("Livestock raised, life lessons gained," Aug. 24). I'm relieved that many of the people involved in this process admit that it's sad. But I'm weary of hearing the justifications for this sadness, such as that meat is "part of a balanced diet" and "this is what [the animals]

With three years to implement a new law requiring Maryland schools to provide disabled students access to sports programs, state education officials say they will spend the coming academic year collecting data and drafting regulations in hopes of setting up a smooth introduction of the measure. In the spring, the General Assembly passed the bill, titled Fitness and Athletics Equity for Students with Disabilities, which requires schools to allow athletes with disabilities to play wheelchair basketball or tennis, to swim or to otherwise play sports, either among themselves or side by side with able-bodied students.

The student: Kavita Krishnaswamy, 18 School: Wilde Lake High School Special achievement: She participated in the first Maryland Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities sponsored by the state of Maryland. Krishnaswamy, who has muscular dystrophy, was chosen to participate based on her academic record and leadership qualities. Current endeavor: She is forming an organization for students with disabilities. "It's like an honor society. I'm going to interview them and have applications, and those that would be members would be part of a prestigious organization."

Tommy Herman blossomed in third grade at Ring Factory Elementary School. He made lots of friends, got to be the computer room aide and did well academically.None of this would have been possible if Tommy, a bright 10-year-old with severe, multiple physical disabilities, had remained segregated with other students with disabilities, says his mother, Patty Herman.Tommy started attending Ring Factory last year as a third-grader after two years of being bused to a special education center for students with disabilities at William Paca Elementary School.

Special-ed students to be held to same test standard 1 The Maryland State Board of Education voted yesterday to make the passing standard for a group of special-education students who take a modified high school test the same as it is for students without disabilities. The decision came after advocates for students with disabilities said those students should be held to the same standards as other students. State statistics showed, however, that only 9 percent or 10 percent of students who took a modified high school assessment last year passed.